2012
This training guide was developed by the Southern African HIV/AIDS Information Disseminations Service (SAfAIDS) to support the set up and running of the Nkamanzi community information centre, Swaziland. The Nkamanzi community information centre is an initiative of the Swaziland National Information and Training Centre with support from SAfAIDS and the Johns Hopkins Knowledge for Health Programme, with financial support from PEPFAR Swaziland. SAfAIDS would like to acknowledge Healthlink as the primary source of information for this training guide.
Table of Contents
Section 1: Understanding the objectives of the Information Centre
1.1.Planning
1.2.Assessing information needs
Section 2: Developing the collection
2.1.Developing a collection policy
2.2.How to develop a collection policy
2.3.Sources of materials
2.4.Selecting materials
2.5.Procedure for obtaining materials
2.6.Receiving materials
2.7.Updating the collection
2.8.Taking care of materials
Section 3: Organising the information
3.1.Classifying materials
3.2.Assigning keywords
3.3.Cataloguing materials
3.4.Shelving, displaying and filing materials
Section 4: Computers and databases
4.1.Advantages of computers
Section 5: Information Services
5.1.Developing a strategy
5.2.Staffing and opening hours
5.3.Welcoming visitors
5.4.Introductory sessions and information skills
5.5.Advisory services
5.6.Reference interviews
5.7.Literature searches
5.8.Lending
5.9.Referral services
5.10.Current awareness services
Section 6: Promotion and Marketing of the Information Centre
6.1.Involving users
6.2.Promoting the information centre
Section 7: Community Outreach Activities
7.1.Community Discussion Forums
Section 8: Monitoring and evaluation
8.1.About Monitoring and Evaluation
8.2.Monitoring
8.3.Reporting
8.4.Using the data
Annexes
Annex 1: Key questions for developing and information centre strategic plan
Annex 2: Information needs assessment questionnaire (example)
Annex 3: Developing an action plan
Annex 4: Producers and distributors of resources and publications
Annex 5: Monitoring forms
Acronyms
ARTAntiretroviral therapy
ARVAntiretroviral
CBOCommunity-based Organisation
FBOFaith-based Organisation
ISBNInternational Standard Book Number
ISSNInternational Standard Serial Number
MERMonitoring, Evaluation and Reporting
NACNational AIDS Council
NAPNational AIDS Programmes
NERCHANational Emergency Response Council on HIV and AIDS
NGONon-governmental Organisation
NLMNational Library of Medicine
OIOpportunistic Infections
PMTCTPrevention of Mother to Child Transmission (of HIV)
PEPFARPresidents Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief
PLWHAPeople living with HIV and AIDS
SAfAIDSSouthern Africa HIV and AIDS Information Dissemination Service
SANASOSouthern African Network of AIDS Service Organisations
SDI Selective Dissemination of Information
TBTuberculosis
UDC Universal Decimal Classification
About the Nkamanzi Community Information Centre
Swaziland has one of the highest HIV prevalence rates in world, with a devastating effect on the whole population. Information is an important weapon in the fight against this disease, as well as other health and development challenges. However, despite large numbers of programmes and activities aimed at trying to reduce the spread of the disease, all producing large amounts of information and materials; knowledge about the disease, how it is spread, and care and treatment options remains low. Currently comprehensive knowledge levels about HIV and AIDS are said to be at 52%. This is not enough to make any real impact in reducing the spread and impact of the disease.
In communities especially, there is a need to make sure that information on HIV and AIDS and health issues is easily available, in the right format to meet the basic needs of the communities.
A community information centre is one way of making information available to the community. Based in the community and managed and supported by community members, it is makes informationeasily accessible, and ensures that the right information is made available, in the right format to meet the needs of the community.
The Nkamanzi community information centre was established at the request of the Nkamanzi Community with support from the National HIV and AIDS Information and Training Centre (National Info centre), the Southern African HIV and AIDS Information Dissemination Service (SAfAIDS) and Johns Hopkins Knowledge for Health programme.
This training guide is developed for the volunteers of the Nkamanzi Community Information Centre to guide them in the set up and running of the centre. It was developed based on the training of the volunteers and includes their input and guidance on how best to run the centre based on their knowledge of the community.
Section 1: Understanding the objectives of the Information Centre
1.1.Planning
Planning is important to ensure that the information centre will serve a useful purpose. Planning starts with finding out what information people need, and deciding how to meet their information needs. It includes developing clear aims for the information centre, and deciding what activities to carry out to meet these aims. Planning also includes deciding how to evaluate the information centre, to see how far it is meeting its aims.
Planning is not something that only happens once at the beginning, but is part of a continuing process. The results of evaluation should be used to draw up new plans for developing the information centre further.
An information centre needs a clear purpose and overall plan of activities for the longer term. The national info centre will work closely with the Nkamanzi community to develop the longer term overall plan for the community info centre.
1.2.Assessing information needs
It is important to find out about the people who will use the resource centre. This includes finding out what information they need, what information is provided by other organisations, and how far their needs for information are being met. This is known as carrying out a needs assessment.
After the resource centre has been established, a needs assessment should becarried out every one or two years, to ensure that the resource centre continuesto meet the information needs of its users.
A needs assessment looks at:
Who the users will be
Their age, sex, educational level, literacy level and type of work they do.
What their information needs are
What main subjects they need information about?
What other subjects they need information about?
What they will use the materials in the resource centre for (in order of
priority)?
Which activities the materials will be most useful for?
How important local/national/regional/international information is?
What formats of materials will be useful:
- books and other documents (for getting a comprehensive picture of atopic)
- personal advice (to help plan activities)
- training manuals (to assist with a training activity)
- videos (for training and health education)
- newsletters (to find out what new developments are taking place in the
subject area, and what other organisations are doing).
What materials are available
What other sources of published and unpublished materials exist?
What gaps there are (in terms of subject, type of material, such as trainingmanual, reference material), language, format (such as book, dvd, etc), andeducational level?
What other sources of information exist:
- government services and departments
- non-governmental organisations (NGOs)
- mass media (newspapers, radio, television)
- e-mail and Internet services.
How information can be disseminated
What methods for disseminating information would best suit resource centre users (such as resource lists or current awareness bulletins)?
How feasible these methods are?
A needs assessment can be carried out by interviewing people individually, organising a focus group discussion (a structured discussion with a small group of potential users) or by asking potential users to complete a questionnaire. Interviews and discussions are better, as they provide an opportunity to meet people and discuss their needs. If a questionnaire is used, it should be made easy for people to complete. This can be done by listing the most likely answers, so that people only need to tick a box or circle a word.
It is important to collect only essential information. Too much information canbe confusing. Tips for conducting interviews and an example of a needsassessment questionnaire are available in Annex 2.
Section 2: Developing the collection
It is important to collect only materials that will be useful. Materials that are not relevant to users, or that are badly written are a waste of time and space. The collection needs to be balanced in terms of subject areas and formats, to meet the needs of all users, not just some.
2.1.Developing a collection policy
Every information centre needs a collection policy to ensure that:
- the collection is useful for the people who use the information centre
- financial and other resources are used well
- the collection does not duplicate other collections that are accessible to users.
Developing the collection policy is the responsibility of the information centre officer working closely with the National info centre. The policy needs to be reviewed and updated about every two years.
2.2.How to develop a collection policy
Start by looking at the overall aims of the information centre and the needs of existing and potential users (see Section 1). Write down the subject areas that are most important. Write down other relevant subject areas. Write down what format of materials and reading level is required for different users of the information centre. Work closely with the National info centre to help you with this.
Identify other information centres that have collections on these subject areas, and consider whether users have access to them. If not, consider whether you can establish a good relationship with any of these information centres, which might include supplying or lending materials.
Decide and write down how long particular materials should be kept, including issues of periodicals, and when to weed out (remove) materials that should no longer be kept.
This information forms the collection policy. Use the collection policy to help you decide which materials to add to the collection and which to remove.
Materials are available in an increasing range of formats. There are four main groups:
- printed materials, e.g. books, periodicals, pamphlets, newsletters, booklets
- display materials, e.g. posters, photographs,
- audiovisuals, e.g. dvds, audio cassettes, etc
- electronic materials, e.g. materials available through a computer
Other ways of communicating information include:
- songs
- plays
- proverbs
- conversations with colleagues
- meetings
- workshops
- contact with individuals or groups around similar subject interests – this isoften called networking
In many community-based settings, these less formal methods of communication are the primary way in which information is communicated. Integrating less formal methods of communication into the work of theinformation centre can often improve its use and its impact.
2.3.Sources of materials
A wide range of sources can be used to find out what materials are available.
A detailed list and description of producers and sources of materials can be found in Annex 2.
This community information centre will work closely with the National resource centre to identify and obtain materials.
For the purpose of this training we will focus on local information sources.
Local information sources
Local sources of information include:
- colleagues in the same organisation
- information centre users
- other organisations
- research and development projects
- training programmes
Colleagues and users of the information centreare useful sources of information about materials for the collection. They can be asked to suggest materials. For example, they might recommend a manual that they have used during a training workshop, or that has been recommended by another colleague. Staff, partners and stakeholders of the information centre should be involved in deciding what to collect, and it is worth encouraging them to suggest ideas.
Other organisations working in similar areas can also be useful sources of information. Information centre staff may be in touch with staff of other information centres, or with staff of organisations working in a similar subject area.
Research and development projects, being carried out within the community are a source of information on new developments and findings.
Training programmes usually provide participants with handouts, photocopies of sections of materials and reading lists. These materials may themselves be useful additions to the collection, or they may help to identify useful materials. It is therefore good to encourage people to share such materials with information centre staff.
The Internet
A wealth of information sources and materials are available through the internet through for example on-line databases. The notebooks provided include collections of materials downloaded from the internet by the Manzini Resource Centre. We will discuss these in more detail later in the course.
TIP: Developing contacts
It is a good idea to develop contacts with local, national and international organisations that produce or disseminate information that may be of use to users. Details of organisations should be kept on file. Organisations should be contacted, asking to be put on their mailing list to receive regular information about new materials.
2.4.Selecting materials
The collection policy (see above), which is based on an analysis of users’ needs, should be used to help select materials. A range of materials including books, newsletters and videos should be collected, according to the needs of users. Information about other organisations working in related areas should also be collected. It is important to keep in regular contact with other organisations that provide information services.
Selecting materials requires a good knowledge of the existing collection, the subject area, and users’ needs. Other staff, users and stakeholders should pass suggestions of new materials to the information centre officer.
1.1.1.How to select materials
To decide whether to add a particular book, video, article or other material to the
collection, ask yourself:
- What is the content? If you have a copy of the material, look at the contents page if it is a publication, or summary information if it is a cassette, etc. If you are using a resource list, look at the list of keywords. The title does not always give a clear indication of what the material contains.
- Who is the material for? If you have a copy of the material, look at the foreword or introduction, summary information if it is a cassette, or accompanying description. If you are using a resource list, look at the description of the material. Decide whether the material is intended for the people your information centre is serving. For example, an academic textbook on drug abuse would not be useful for a nurse who wanted practical information about drug abuse for health education work in a secondary school. Similarly, a video on disabled people’s rights which was filmed in Asia might not be useful for an African audience.
- Is the information accurate and up-to-date? Look at the date of publication. If it was more than five years ago, think carefully before including it. The exception may be some key textbooks or audiovisual materials.
- How much does it cost? Look at the price, if shown. Consider whether the material is worth the money and whether funds are available. Consider whether you may be able to request a free copy (see the Section on obtaining materials).
- Does the information centre lack materials on this subject? Look at what else you have in your information centre on the same subject. Does the material fill a gap? Will it improve the collection on this subject?
2.5.Procedure for obtaining materials
It is important to develop a clear procedure for obtaining materials and keeping records of orders and requests.
An ‘Orders / requests file’ (a ring-binder file labelled ‘Orders’) should be used to keep copies of order forms or letters requesting materials.
TIP: Free materials
Some publishers supply materials free to developing countries. Even if a price is shown, single copies may be available free. If very little money is available for purchasing materials, it is often worth writing to the publisher or distributor explaining the situation and requesting a complimentary (free) copy or subscription. It might also be possible to obtain a ‘review’ copy, in exchange for placing a review of the material in a publication. Or it be might be worth offering to field test some materials, such as training manuals, with a group of information centre users, to find out how useful they are, and feedback the results to the publisher.
2.6.Receiving materials
It is important to follow a standard procedure for receiving materials, to ensure that the right materials have been received and that they go to the right place. Materials should be recorded in the catalogue.
Each material needs an identification number. Number the materials in the order that you obtain them, starting with number 1, using the first column in the catalogue database. This way, the last number in the catalogue will show how many materials have been added to the collection. To find out the number in the collection, take away the number that have been removed.
Stamp the title page or the first right-hand page inside the book with the information centre ownership stamp.
Also stamp a 'secret page'. You need to agree which page this should be for allmaterials. For example, it could be page 15. Stamp videos, other audiovisuals, posters, periodicals and other materials if possible. Be careful not to stamp over important information.
2.7.Updating the collection
From time to time the collection needs to be reviewed. This may include removing some materials, and deciding what new subject areas or types of material to include.
It is best to review the collection once a year, setting aside a few days, depending on the size of the collection. The review should be carried out by the information centre officer in consultation with his or her supervisor, the National Resource Centre and/or other users. You should identify in the roles and responsibilities who should take responsibility for deciding what to remove or add.
The task will be easier if a needs assessment has recently been carried out, andif older editions of materials are removed regularly when new editions arrive.